I sat on the couch in my living room waiting for my "friends" to arrive. My basement was one of the most amazing play rooms in Pennsylvania, due to my parents and grandparents spoiling me. There were so many toys, probably more toys than I've ever seen in someone's house. We were a part of this group where moms got together once a week and all the kids played. However, I never liked to play with the kids. I would much rather sit on our old purple/green/blueish couch with the adults and listen to them talk. I was probably 5, 6 or 7 but I remember my favorite thing being to listen to adults talk to each other. They knew so much, and they had so much to do. In my mind, they were educated. It wasn’t all knowledge that you could only gain in a classroom, but just a general knowledge of life. To me, among other things, being educated is to pick up on your surroundings and use your information to make the most of your situation. I can’t remember anything specific that I heard them talk about, but I definitely remember hearing them talk. I even remember most of the mothers, and what they looked like. But, the strange thing is that I don’t remember any of the children that were my age.
Being a kid, I should not have worried about the adults, and I should have played with the other kids, because I would have the rest of my life to be old. However, in my mind, you can never be young. You can never be young. I say this because really, the only time you are young to yourself, is when you look back on earlier stages of your life. And you obviously can’t go back to that time. Even as I write this, the world considers me young, but being young cannot be an excuse to not work your hardest to succeed. All this to say, from the very earliest stages of my life I have been different, I haven't fit in with the normal, and I've never wanted to. I was an outsider.
And you can stay if you'd like
I'll see you on the other side
I wanna live the free life
I'd rather be an outsider
I wake up after another late night. My eyes hurt, I've been FaceTiming my good friend in Florida who, like me, is a musician/fashion-lover. We talked until 2 am the night before. I've been homeschooled my whole life until last year, when I entered high school, and started taking classed at Warrior Run High School, where my dad teaches high level biology. But today I have to wake up and go to class, just like every other week day. My father, who was wearing a red polo shirt and khakis with a belt I can remember him having for as long as I can remember[1], came into wake me up. I looked at the clock, 6:58, time to get ready and go. It took about an hour for me to be sitting at my desk in my father’s office at school, working on homework.
After my math and science classes, I eat lunch and leave to make it to Bloomsburg for my 12 o'clock class. It's a public speaking class. I have been coming to Bloomsburg for a couple weeks now, and still not many people know I am in 10th grade in high school. It's sort of strange I think, to be around people that have had more schooling in their life than me, but still in the same classes as me. From my experiences at college I realized that the kids here do not care nearly as much about doing well in school as I do. I am here to save money and time, and do as well as I possibly can, with as little distractions as possible.[2] I'm not partying on the weekends, I'm not skipping class, and I’m trying to study even when I don't want to. I'm trying to be the best I can. Forget mediocre. I don't always succeed in doing this, and sometimes I fail miserably. But I can assure you that I'm trying. When I think about being educated, I think about being set apart. I think education gives you a way to stand out and go above and beyond the average. Not many others around me seem to be doing that. I'm an outsider.
Now I realize that I'm free
And I realize that I'm me
And I found out that I'm not alone cause' there's plenty people like me
That's right there's plenty people like me
All love me, despite me
And all unashamed and all unafraid to speak out for what we might see
I said there's plenty people like me
All outsiders like me
And all unashamed and all unafraid to live out what they supposed to be
Outsiders
I imagine walking into work, the Reach Records Headquarters in Atlanta. It is a busy day, I have a meeting with tour managers trying to book GAWVI at 8:00am, then a writing session with Andy Mineo and Alex Medina at 10:00, and those usually last several hours. Since I'm in Atlanta, I'm going to meet up with my old friend Jamie Grace for lunch. It is amazing to me that we met almost ten years ago. We still laugh about the time I completely messed up her song the first time she asked me to play with her at a show in Lancaster. I was only 15 years old then. After that I have another meeting to Google Hangout with Tom Jackson, to talk about drafting him to create Lecrae's next tour. Tom and I met for the first time in summer 2014 at Camp Electric in Nashville, where he was doing some workshops for the students. It's going to be the biggest tour we've ever done, and we've already sold out the major arenas on ticket pre sale. I am the first one in this business from my area, or anywhere around my area. Many others are from bigger towns, and hardly go home to visit their families. Not me. My brother still lives in Watsontown, and we meet up there almost three times a month, because I often have to go up to New York and work with Andy in his area. I feel as though I fit in with my coworkers. We all have the same passion and vision. Glorify God as much as we can through music. It's like a dream. I still go by what I always have gone by - "Making much of someone much greater than me."
This is what it means to be educated. To be able to do what you want to do. To have options. One of the reasons I believe getting an education for myself, is so I had options and I was able to choose what I wanted to for the rest of my life. At this time, in this career, at this company, with these coworkers, I do not feel like an outsider. But we are so much different than the world and the culture, even though we are trying to create the culture. Many people do not understand what we’re doing, and they think we are outlandish for working so hard for anything besides making money.[3] It's hard to explain, but to the rest of the world, we are outsiders.
[1] Appearance [2] Point of View [3] Treatment By Others
Tristan Peace
4/27/15
I won't stay here another night
If I gotta sacrifice
Who I am on the inside
I'd rather be an outsider
I sat on the couch in my living room waiting for my "friends" to arrive. My basement was one of the most amazing play rooms in Pennsylvania, due to my parents and grandparents spoiling me. There were so many toys, probably more toys than I've ever seen in someone's house. We were a part of this group where moms got together once a week and all the kids played. However, I never liked to play with the kids. I would much rather sit on our old purple/green/blueish couch with the adults and listen to them talk. I was probably 5, 6 or 7 but I remember my favorite thing being to listen to adults talk to each other. They knew so much, and they had so much to do. In my mind, they were educated. It wasn’t all knowledge that you could only gain in a classroom, but just a general knowledge of life. To me, among other things, being educated is to pick up on your surroundings and use your information to make the most of your situation. I can’t remember anything specific that I heard them talk about, but I definitely remember hearing them talk. I even remember most of the mothers, and what they looked like. But, the strange thing is that I don’t remember any of the children that were my age.
Being a kid, I should not have worried about the adults, and I should have played with the other kids, because I would have the rest of my life to be old. However, in my mind, you can never be young. You can never be young. I say this because really, the only time you are young to yourself, is when you look back on earlier stages of your life. And you obviously can’t go back to that time. Even as I write this, the world considers me young, but being young cannot be an excuse to not work your hardest to succeed. All this to say, from the very earliest stages of my life I have been different, I haven't fit in with the normal, and I've never wanted to. I was an outsider.
And you can stay if you'd like
I'll see you on the other side
I wanna live the free life
I'd rather be an outsider
I wake up after another late night. My eyes hurt, I've been FaceTiming my good friend in Florida who, like me, is a musician/fashion-lover. We talked until 2 am the night before. I've been homeschooled my whole life until last year, when I entered high school, and started taking classed at Warrior Run High School, where my dad teaches high level biology. But today I have to wake up and go to class, just like every other week day. My father, who was wearing a red polo shirt and khakis with a belt I can remember him having for as long as I can remember[1], came into wake me up. I looked at the clock, 6:58, time to get ready and go. It took about an hour for me to be sitting at my desk in my father’s office at school, working on homework.
After my math and science classes, I eat lunch and leave to make it to Bloomsburg for my 12 o'clock class. It's a public speaking class. I have been coming to Bloomsburg for a couple weeks now, and still not many people know I am in 10th grade in high school. It's sort of strange I think, to be around people that have had more schooling in their life than me, but still in the same classes as me. From my experiences at college I realized that the kids here do not care nearly as much about doing well in school as I do. I am here to save money and time, and do as well as I possibly can, with as little distractions as possible.[2] I'm not partying on the weekends, I'm not skipping class, and I’m trying to study even when I don't want to. I'm trying to be the best I can. Forget mediocre. I don't always succeed in doing this, and sometimes I fail miserably. But I can assure you that I'm trying. When I think about being educated, I think about being set apart. I think education gives you a way to stand out and go above and beyond the average. Not many others around me seem to be doing that. I'm an outsider.
Now I realize that I'm free
And I realize that I'm me
And I found out that I'm not alone cause' there's plenty people like me
That's right there's plenty people like me
All love me, despite me
And all unashamed and all unafraid to speak out for what we might see
I said there's plenty people like me
All outsiders like me
And all unashamed and all unafraid to live out what they supposed to be
Outsiders
I imagine walking into work, the Reach Records Headquarters in Atlanta. It is a busy day, I have a meeting with tour managers trying to book GAWVI at 8:00am, then a writing session with Andy Mineo and Alex Medina at 10:00, and those usually last several hours. Since I'm in Atlanta, I'm going to meet up with my old friend Jamie Grace for lunch. It is amazing to me that we met almost ten years ago. We still laugh about the time I completely messed up her song the first time she asked me to play with her at a show in Lancaster. I was only 15 years old then. After that I have another meeting to Google Hangout with Tom Jackson, to talk about drafting him to create Lecrae's next tour. Tom and I met for the first time in summer 2014 at Camp Electric in Nashville, where he was doing some workshops for the students. It's going to be the biggest tour we've ever done, and we've already sold out the major arenas on ticket pre sale. I am the first one in this business from my area, or anywhere around my area. Many others are from bigger towns, and hardly go home to visit their families. Not me. My brother still lives in Watsontown, and we meet up there almost three times a month, because I often have to go up to New York and work with Andy in his area. I feel as though I fit in with my coworkers. We all have the same passion and vision. Glorify God as much as we can through music. It's like a dream. I still go by what I always have gone by - "Making much of someone much greater than me."
This is what it means to be educated. To be able to do what you want to do. To have options. One of the reasons I believe getting an education for myself, is so I had options and I was able to choose what I wanted to for the rest of my life. At this time, in this career, at this company, with these coworkers, I do not feel like an outsider. But we are so much different than the world and the culture, even though we are trying to create the culture. Many people do not understand what we’re doing, and they think we are outlandish for working so hard for anything besides making money.[3] It's hard to explain, but to the rest of the world, we are outsiders.
[1] Appearance
[2] Point of View
[3] Treatment By Others